In a Tuesday speech hosted by the Associated Press in Washington, D.C., President Obama will deliver a broadside to the House-passed Republican budget, which calls for upending Medicare and making deep cuts to domestic social programs. Obama will describe it as a dark vision for America and draw a clear contrast with his campaign themes of reducing inequality and asking the wealthy to help pay down the nation’s debt.

“This congressional Republican budget, however, is something different altogether. It’s a Trojan Horse,” Obama plans to say, according to excerpts provided by the White House. “Disguised as deficit-reduction plan, it’s really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country. It’s nothing but thinly veiled Social Darwinism. It’s antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity and upward mobility for everyone who’s willing to work for it — a place where prosperity doesn’t trickle down from the top, but grows outward from the heart of the middle class. And by gutting the very things we need to grow an economy that’s built to last — education and training; research and development — it’s a prescription for decline.”

Business Insider: Over the next eight hours, twenty automakers will report March auto sales in the U.S. Already, it appears the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales will top all industry estimates, new data out of Business Insider shows.

First out the gate this month is Chrysler, with a better-than-expected sales gain of 34.2 percent, moving 163,381 units in March.

At that healthy gain, Business Insider estimates total U.S. SAAR will run between 15.2 million and 16.1 million. This is well above current estimates of 14.6 million units, per Bloomberg.

The last time auto sales topped an annualized pace of 15.2 million was four years ago, in February 2008.

Detroit News: Chrysler Group LLC sold 163,381 cars and trucks last month, translating into a 34 percent year-over-year increase and making March another stellar month for the Auburn Hills automaker.

Meanwhile, Ford Motor Co. said Tuesday that its auto sales were up 5 percent in March — the company’s best March in five years. And Hyundai Motor Co. said it set a new all-time record for U.S. auto sales in March, up 13 percent to 69,728 on strong sales of its fuel-efficient models.

NYT: For several weeks, Mitt Romney has seized on the rising cost of gasoline to attack President Obama and his environmental aides for what Mr. Romney calls their misguided desire to see higher energy prices.

…. But Mr. Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, has in the past appeared much more open to the notion that rising energy costs could be good for the American economy. In his 2010 book, “No Apology,” Mr. Romney described a gradual increase in the cost of energy as the kind of market-based incentive that conservatives could embrace.

…. Charles Ebinger, the director of the energy security initiative at the Brookings Institution, said Mr. Romney’s openness to the benefits of higher energy prices was similar to the approach that Mr. Obama’s advisers had espoused for years.

Steve Benen: ….. The main problem, as the New York Times reported today, is that Romney has already argued for the same policies he’s now against.

…. As governor, Romney also raised gas taxes — by 400% — and hired an energy advisor who opposes reduction in oil prices. Romney even pushed for more energy-efficient light bulbs, though he now opposes the idea.

Clearly, the former governor is aware of public concerns and wants to incorporate energy policy into the 2012 race, but between Romney’s Big Oil ties and his previous personas, it’s not going to be easy for him to stay coherent on the subject.

TPM: A new report by an independent government auditor concludes that implementing President Obama’s health care law as intended will make a significant dent in the long-term debt forecast.

…. it concludes that if key cost-control measures in the law, and other automatic cuts to Medicare spending baked into current law, are ignored, or overridden by Congress, the implications for the national debt are vast.

If “Obamacare” is implemented as intended, and other measures, such as automatic payment cuts to Medicare physicians, take effect, “spending on Medicare and Medicaid grows from 5 percent of GDP in 2010 to over 7 percent by 2030.”

By contrast, if Congress overrides those provisions, “spending on health care grows much more rapidly ….”

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223 Responses to “rise and shine”

BTW, that ear-splitting screech you heard was me. I rushed over from Twitter and clicked my house on ‘Post Comment’ only to be told that I had to sign in at WordPress! I could stomp all over my laptop! {Of course, I quickly remembered that I don’t have a temper, and I only have one laptop. 😆 😆

No time to warn you. Apologise to Kitten for me please. Explain to her how it was all Chips’ fault.

psst. You don’t need to apologise or slacken your pace. This is a battle between Ms Chips and me. She made it personal days ago, firing the occasional salvo even when I’m in retreat….. even after I raised the white flag of conciliation by pointing out that I like to share first position. So now it’s a fight to the podium every time I’m online. We, of course, won’t mention who has been winning to date, we’ll just PRESS ON!

Oh, that poor little podium, caught between two ferocious women! Kitty does have a special soft spot for our Chips tho, and has gone back to sleep.. I will have to upset the tranquility right now, tho, if I am to make any progress on this day at all! Will be hovering around, keeping in touch if I can….. Have a lovely day everyone, leave your televisions off! 😉

I found that I log in from the email notification, the thread comes right up, but then, I still lack a fancy little magic box to direct me to comments made on my posts. After everything I am reading about all the problems with WP, I think I’m glad I never completed the account registration… I may be in the last century, but at the very least I can read TOD! And that keeps me sane, sorta…;)

Chips Chica, peerless blog mistress, you have a wonderful talent for knowing your blog subjects. You ALWAYS manage to disarm me, and you do it with just the right reward. I am speechless (for the moment 😉 ) with THANKS and happy as a lark! 😆 😆 …..You know I don’t think I have ever seen a lark. Wonder what they are so happy about? 😆 😆

I vote ‘just right’. 😆 Smart move to consider your reaction and deliberate your next steps. Me, I am guilted (I mean ‘inspired) into my exercise routine each time I see FLOTUS looking so healthy and so good, but my efforts taper off in a day or two until I see her in another wowzer outfit. One of the reasons I don’t mind that Chips doesn’t show daily pictures of FLOTUS actually. 😉

And oops! I was in the act of posting this on Twitter when I spotted Chips sneaking in….oops again… entering her heads up. With all these ‘oops’ so early in the day I might have to go back to bed and try for a fresh start.

Oh, JO’B! 😳 I decided not to start over as soon as Chips Chica gave me the lovely reward for controlling myself AND preserving my only link to TOD. Who can believe that the scientists (psychologists… or is it psychiatrists?) were correct that animals respond well to rewards!! There’s actual merit to this science stuff!

Good thing! 🙂 I always joke that I can’t have pets, because they “require too much love and affection.” But it’s more that one day they may be allowed to “have me committed,” especially once they’ve figured out how much time I spend on TOD, laughing out loud. Ya know?

Me three. Good morning. Will someone tell me how Mrs. Moose did on her show this morning? Did she use word salad? Did she wink her eyes a thousand times? Did she act all folksy and sweet? Tell me, tell me.

You know what would really take the wind out of that lying Romney? If PBO had a copy of Mr. Romney’s “No Apologies” book and read the part, word for word, about wanting higher gas prices so we would begin to innovate to the future….I would ROTFALMAO! A slam dunk!

That AP speech is going to be a barn burner so the question is how much coverage will it receive. The AP questions will be dumb and “reporters” will outdo each other trying to defend Ryan. But we’ll see the kernels of what PBO will be saying repeatedly in the campaign and in ads and those who do actually hear what the president and is saying and “how” he’s saying it will see PBO at his finest–inspired and full of fighting spirit. All of us always said that when he got done dealing with the R Congress to get the middle class tax cuts through, he was free to step away from those idiots and start speaking directly and consistently to the American people. He’s bursting with energy now and lighting the fires and shaking the ground.

I would also like to see how much coverage PBO will receive. The AP’s idea of covering what POTUS is not to print quotes, but to tell us what they think he said through a RW prism, followed by an outraged quote by some repug.

A ROOM, Meta? I shall have to have a talk with CC about the un-wisdom of closed doors on such a room. Remember the good old days when closed doors were viewed with suspicion if the opposite sex was involved. Should be the same rationale for opposite sex thoughts, wouldn’t you think? 😉

So Romney’s new message to Latinos is, in effect, “Vote for the candidate you disagree with, and reward the party that killed the agenda you support.”

Is this some sort of delayed April Fool’s joke? Does Romney seriously believe Latino voters know literally nothing about the debate over immigration policy in Washington?

Romney is an opponent of the DREAM Act; he’s palling around with Pete Wilson and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach; he endorses a “self-deportation” agenda; he’s critical ofbilingualism; and his casual dismissals of “amnesty” and “illegals” are a staple of his campaign rhetoric.

Romney is going to have to do better than “Obama hasn’t passed laws I already oppose.”

57, it’s also education. Latino families want to their kids to have a good education in good schools that are not falling down around their ears or have 60 kids to a room. Republicans are the enemy of public schools just as they are the enemy of affordable health care and Latinos know this.

Btw- the Gas prices truly are helping sell green cars. GM sold 100k vehicles in march that were Green.
Remember, the President set a goal of 1 million electric vehicles on the road, by 2015.
So, this gives you a good barometer as to how the Green cars are now selling.
But, the right spins that, saying, that the President likes high gas prices.
Sigh!

This is incredibly encouraging. People are so resistant to change, green cars are probably the last frontier for weening ourselves off of foreign oil, improving our environment and creating jobs. But thanks to PBO, we are on our way. I’m thrilled.

Boy these idiots don’t know their constitution do they? This is nullification all over again, and states’ rights for which we fought a war over on the issue of slavery called the civil war. Don’t these people know about the “national supremacy clause” in Article 6 of our Constitution? I get so tired of these people who are advocating getting rid of our system of government.

I just called the DOJ and gave them a head’s up on the loonies brainiac idea….they are now aware and will monitor the situation. This state wastes more money trying to defend this BS than any other state. The taxpayers of this state are getting screwed, left and right. Helps to lead the sheeple by the nose when the education system is like 48th in the country. WTH is wrong with these people????

My daughter goes to U of Arizona, so am interested in what goes on in AZ and I am continually in a state of WTF? when I read your posts as to what is going on there. I don’t know how you do it! How is your husband’s job search going? I do hope he finds something really, really perfect for him.

Here I go again with my bad news, just when things are beginning to turn around for me.

My father died yesterday.

He died in Liberia, my native country.

My dad was a self-taught man. He had only a sixth grade education, but he taught himself, using books — from enclyopedias to dictionaries and what ever he could get his hands on. He was a voracious reader. When the Liberian government was at its peak and functioning in he rose to be deputy minister of Local Government (equivalent to U.S. Deputy secretary for Interior). He traveled the world.

He once was the head of all peace corps in the west African region. He was my mentor. He was a generous man and one with lots of wisdom, something he got from his own dad who never saw the inside of a school building.

My dad taught me to treat people with respect and the same way you wanted to be treated. He’d always say, “your word is your bond.” “Never make promises you can’t keep.” He was a really, really decent human being, quite forgiving. And so this day I am very, very sad. But I know he lived a good life, despite the turmoil in our country over the last two decades.

I know I have not been around much lately because of work. But I lurk a lot and will probably be doing some of that as I deal with the loss.

Oh Africa, I am so sorry about your father, what a beautiful tribute you just paid to his character and life. I know this is a desperately painful time for you, please just look after yourself and come back to us when you can. May your father rest in peace.

Africa sorry to hear of your sad news. It’s never easy losing a parent no matter how old we are. Please accept my deepest condolescences. May your dad rest in peace, and hope that you and your family are able to find some measure of comfort at this difficult time.

Betsy, I know how you feel, too. My Mother was 84 and she passed away six years ago, but I still have that deep ache for her – I think we always will, but since they wouldn’t want us to ache, we somehow survive and press on. Luckily, my Mother had a fabulous sense of humor, so if I think I’m gonna get sad, I just think of some of the things she used to say!

Oh, I am so sorry to hear this. Please find some consolation in knowing how proud your father would be about how proud you are of him. There’s something truly beautiful about that, and apparently you turned out to be very much like him.

Oh Africa, your father sounds like my father who I lost a few years past. I just instructed him to seek your father out, welcome him to his new home, and tell him his daughter keeps his spirit and legacy alive here for all of us here. Thank you for sharing. Grieve, heal and return. We need you here. Love to you!

africa, I can only imagine how news of your loss arrived straight to your heart. How incredibly fortunate you are to have such an accomplished and wise father who touched many lives. I hope you will find comfort in your community, which definitely includes all of us. Take good care. xoxo.

I am so sorry to hear that. I will keep you and your family in my thoughts. When my daughter died in October everyone here at TODville had lots of compassion for me. I know what you are going though as I am still grieving. If this helps, I’ll tell you what my 9 year old great grandson said when died. He said I’m glad she is heaven now.

Be strong and remember you have friends here at Todville who care about you. I hope I’m not being too intrusive. Will you be able to go home for the funeral?

Oh Africa, I’m so, so sorry. Your father sounds like such a wonderful man who taught you lessons that have shaped your life in so many good ways. He must have been very, very proud of you. I hope you’ll keep all the good about him in your heart and treasure them every day. My own father died 63 years ago, if you can believe it. And I have felt that he’s with me every day of my life.

I’m so sorry to hear of your Father’s death. My thoughts and prayers for you and your family. May he Rest in Peace. Your very lucky and must be very proud of your father. It’s clear from your comments that you are a lot like your father.

Thank God we have you, as the media blackout is in full force.
I wonder if they will start showing them, when the Campaign starts in a couple months?
Nahh! They will probably show reruns of Herman Cain 9-9-9!

From all accounts, the elder Romney was a much more decent man than Willard — and much more liberal (they would have primaried him out of today’s TeaOP). Still, the scene must have been funny as hell! 😆

Compared to his venal, lying, incompetent son, Romney senior was a genius and a humanitarian. Of course, he was just a moderate and relatively decent Republican in his day, but the apple fell far, far from the tree.

HEADLINE: Economic Confidence in March Highest Since January 2008. Index has increased for seven straight months

// PRINCETON, NJ — The Gallup Economic Confidence Index reached -20 in March, up from -22 in February and its highest level since Gallup Daily tracking began in January 2008. The index has increased for seven straight months after falling to -52 during the federal debt crisis last August. //

Today is Primary Day in MD and DC (its been all over the radio and tv for the last week). So I get up and go vote this morning (we now have early voting in MD but I still like to vote on the actual voting day). I come to work proudly displaying my “I Voted” sticker on my lapel and I cannot tell you how many people asked me “there’s an election today?”. Arghhh….How can people be so ignorant. I just had the third person (college educated) say to me, “I thought this Primary was just for the Republicans…You mean I’m suppose to vote today?”.

…..When Spain joined the euro, interest rates fell to the much lower levels typical in Germany and while the Spanish government resisted the lure of cheap loans, most ordinary Spaniards did not.

The country experienced a long boom, underpinned by a housing bubble, as Spanish households took on bigger and bigger mortgages.

House prices rose 44% from 2004 to 2008, at the tail end of a housing boom, according to ministry of housing data. Since the bubble burst, they have fallen 17%.

The economy, which grew 3.7% per year on average from 1999 to 2007, has shrunk at an annual rate of 1% since then.

When the housing bubble burst, so did its construction sector.

So, although the Spanish government still has relatively little existing debts, it is now having to borrow like crazy to fill the gap left by the jump in unemployment benefits and collapse in tax revenues during the downturn.

As I’ve been saying, having a monetary union without fiscal and closer political union was a recipe for disaster. It would be as if California and Alabama shared the same currency but were different countries. And what the EU is doing in pushing austerity won’t lead to growth, which is what the PIIG countries need to get out of their debt problem; they’re looking at years of recession, with no end in sight.

True, LL. The austerity measures in Ireland, for example, are sucking the last signs of life out of the economy, but since the EU bail-out the democratically elected Government of Ireland (a coalition that includes a supposedly left-wing party) has next to no say in how the country is now run, Europe makes all the decisions. And it’s the same story with all of Europe’s strugglers. In that sense, elections in countries like Ireland, Spain, Greece and Portugal are now meaningless, democracy has died – and that’s really no exaggeration. It all scares the living daylights out of me.

If only Republican senators would ‘speak’ with integrity where and when it really counts! Here is retiring Olympia Snowe speaking out – did she have this stance when she was voting? I truly don’t know because I didn’t pay any attention to individual Republican senators bthough I seem to remember them voting on everything as a block.

F all these so-called Republican moderates! They write op-eds and give speeches about divisiveness, partisanship, etc. etc. and then when its time to vote what do they do? Vote with their party on the very issue they just said the GOP was wrong on. F her.

I hear you, Go B. I shared this in affirmation of the fact that we have the BEST example of INTEGRITY, political or otherwise, in the person of President Obama. That’s why IMO PBO doesn’t have to worry about an ‘open’ mike. Whatever he says in meetings, he can say with equal confidence to the media, to the country AND to his opponents. Not many of his ‘peers’ can say that.

Americans, even those who should no better, have short memories. I was listening on the radio this morning and it was brought up that PBO was going to go after the Ryan buget today pretty strongly. The consensus was that it is good to see him doing this, but it would have been nice if he had done it when Ryan first came out with it. It seems they forget when PBO gave his reaction to it before with Ryan sitting in the front row right in front of him.

It’s also a suspicion of what they see is his hypocrisy and essential phoniness — what one former staffer for Fred Thompson called Romney’s “wholesale reinvention.”
.
To be sure, the candidates’ staffs do seem to have bonded in their dislike of Romney. “It was very common for e-mails to be flying around between the Thompson, McCain and Giuliani campaigns,” says the former Thompson staffer, “Saying, ‘No matter what happens with us, we all need to make sure it’s not him.'” The staffer says that campaigns would share opposition research on Romney and offer each other tips on how best to undermine him: “Like, ‘Hey, I saw you hit Mitt on immigration — have you thought about going after him on this issue?” In some cases, the attitude even extends to the top of the campaigns. The night of the Iowa caucuses, after getting a congratulatory call from McCain, Huckabee told the candidate, according to aides: “Now it’s your turn to kick his butt.”
.
But such jibes mask more substantive complaints that many of the candidates have about Romney. “What Romney has done,” says a Huckabee adviser, “he’s attacked people for positions he once held. That annoys people. And he uses his own money to do it, which rubs it in.” He’s gone after McCain on campaign finance reform (which he once supported), Huckabee on tax increases (Huckabee countered that Romney’s raised “fees” amounted to the same thing), and nearly all the candidates on immigration.

Yea, well…we’ll see just how hypocritical these guys are now…they hated him then, but will vote for him now because he’s NOT PBO??? Their arguments ring hallow with me. They have no more moral standing than Romney.

I only contribute to OFA, but this was a nice email from Speaker-for-Life Pelosi, today, on behalf of the DCCC (for those who aren’t on their distribution list):

Jacqueline —

Thank you. Because of the generosity of our supporters, we shattered nearly every previous grassroots fundraising record to date. In March alone, we received donations from more than 100,000 supporters.

On Saturday, we broke our all-time grassroots record for one day!

Don’t be mistaken, this is an authentic grassroots campaign: Over 90% of the contributions we receive are $100 or less.

This people-powered movement will help us win a Democratic Majority in November.

Already today, we’re putting contributions we’ve received to work and launching an ad campaign to hold Republicans accountable for their all-out assaults on women, seniors and the middle class. It’s because of supporters like you that we are able fight back.

TOD, forgive for this minor rant, but I just watched Howard Schultz the CEO
of Starbucks that I felt took a subtle hit at President Obama
with his comment about the 8.3% employment rate, then mention the African
American and Hispanic community employment rate as a follow-up to his pandering of
his $5 wrist band that he is selling at Starbucks stores and has partnered with stores like
Banana Republic to help creat jobs…when Eric asked him where the money goes? Answer to the Banks
to help them lend money really!…JMO but I think this a scheme…there just something not right about this…
I don’t watch Morning Joe anymore, but I believe Starbucks is a sponsor of that show, in addition…this guy
shut-down numerous Starbucks store putting thousands out of work and have the nerve to get on tv to talk about creating jobs with Banana Republic is owned by Gap Inc Gap Inc that closed 100s of Gap Stores in America in 2011 to open stores in China(and Gap Inc were not losing money).

Andy,
The problem is the Republicans can easily get their message out, without even trying.
For example- Palin on the Today show…
And when you do hear about Democrats, it’s to cause discontent.
Like, Pelosi spoke this Morning and the only sound bite we heard is that she is pushing Hillary for 2016.
In essence, the media is not State run controlled like North Korea, which favors the government,- but it IS corporate run controlled, which favors Republicans!

// And that clumsy analogy brings me to Republicans in Illinois and many other reasonable states who’ve yet to hold primaries. Despite supposedly hating Barack Obama (outwardly), Republicans are not voting for Mitt Romney. Not only are they not voting for Mitt Romney but they are actively not voting to beat Obama either. They claim they are. They claim they want nothing more than to unseat Obama in November.
But Republicans, I’ve got news for you – actions speak louder than words. Your actions tell me that deep down you’d rather not vote than vote for Romney. If that’s true and voter turnout continues to be incredibly low in large, swing states, then Obama can win easily. These people are not going to vote for Obama in November; they just won’t vote. And a Republican not voting for Romney might as well be a vote for Obama. //

Below you will find a “LINK” to an awesome video on why we have racism in this country. It’s kinda painful to hear.

This “white” author presents an awesome yet simple explanation of the real reason for racism in this country. I am reminded of the well know puppet in the last election, Joe the Plumber. This individual will probably never make over $250,000 in one year, but he was extremely articulate in working to ensure that taxes would not be increased for people in this income group. What group of people prompted him to be so outspoken? Yes, another example of the white elite milking a poor white person to let him believe he is one of them. When in fact they don’t care for him any more than they care for a (rich or poor) Black person, even thought Joe happens to be a white person. But it much better for this poor brain-washed White person to fight the battle that only the elite can benefit from in this country.

Man, the plan that the white elite has put into action is awesome for them. And I feel Tim Wise has hit the reason for racism right on the head.

My friends, this is not a video to prompt you to rise up in some sort of insurrection. But it should open your mind to see what is happening in our country today. The elite isn’t concerned about closing the borders. The elite wants to have the cheap labor at any cost. The concern today is more about the Rich vs the poor than the White vs the Black. Yes, more Black’s are poor, but the White’s that are poor have been brain-washed to believe they are somehow better than their poor Black neighbor.

I pray you will take the ten minutes to look at and listen to this video.